t12papocrypha
Testament of Asher 4
Asher teaches that a single-faced man — one whose whole orientation is toward God — may perform acts that appear morally mixed to a double-faced observer, yet the whole work is good when its root is righteous. Three examples are given: the man who kills the wicked while doing mercy, the man who hates both the adulterer and the one who enables him, and the man who separates from the riotous to guard his soul's purity. The stag-and-hind image seals the teaching — what appears unclean by surface contact is altogether clean when the inner orientation walks in zeal toward God and abstains from what He forbids.
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For good men, even they that are single of face, though they be thought by them that are double-faced to err, are just before God. For many in killing the wicked do two works, an evil by a good; but the whole is good, because he hath uprooted and destroyed that which is evil. One man hateth him that showeth mercy, and doeth wrong to the adulterer and the thief: this, too, is double-faced, but the whole work is good, because he followeth the Lord’s example, in that he receiveth not that which seemeth good with that which is really bad. Another desireth not to see good days with them that riot, lest he defile his mouth and pollute his soul: this, too, is double-faced, but the whole is good, for such men are like to stags and to hinds, because in a wild condition they seem to be unclean, but they are altogether clean; because they walk in a zeal for God, and abstain from what God also hateth and forbiddeth by His commandments, and they ward off the evil from the good.
